Tag Archives: thomas lemar

5 steps to make Arsenal great again

9 Replies

1. Sign Virgil van Dijk – Arsenal have missed a leader at the back for years. Per Mertesacker is a good organiser, but is now a liability.

van Dijk will give the side a physical presence at the back. Strong, quick and tall, at the age of 26 he has the best to come. He is also very good at bringing the ball out of defence.

2. Return to 4 at the back – Going to 3 at the back won us the FA Cup and saw us nearly snatch a top 4 position. But it is evident that it doesn’t suit the current set of players.

Buying van Dijk and returning to 4 at the back would give us a defence of: Bellerin VvD Kos Sead. There are not too many defences better than that in world football.

3. Sign Jean Michael Seri – Liverpool exposed Arsenal’s problems in the middle of the park. Xhaka and Ramsey are simply not a good partnership.

We are struggling to transition the ball from defence to attack. Something that has ended up leaving Mesut Ozil isolated and coming deeper to get the ball.

Santi Cazorla has not been replaced. Xhaka was supposed to be that replacement, starting out attacks from deep, but too often he gives the ball away in dangerous places leading to goals conceded.

With a release clause of €40m, Seri, next to Xhaka, would solve our problems in the middle of the park.

4. Sign Thomas Lemar – Why haven’t we just done the deal? I don’t get it?

5. Switch to 4231 – Getting in Vvd and Seri would give us the stability to return to 4231. The formation which suits the players a lot more.


 

You would have a solid defence, some mobility and ability in midfield that would free up Ozil to perform in the finals 3rd.

An attacking trio who are versatile and offer a lot of threat, and a clinical striker up top.

Of course, the step I have not mentioned yet is getting rid of Arsene Wenger. It might not solve every problem at Arsenal ,but he is the biggest problem at Arsenal.

Keenos

Arsenal need to dump Alexis Sanchez

3 Replies

Why is Alexis Sanchez still at Arsenal? That is the question we all need to be asking.

Whilst he is the best player in the side, an individual talent capable of winning any game, the reality is he does not want to be at Arsenal.

Like many footballers, he is motivated by one thing. Money. Reports are he is holding out for a 5 year, £400k a week deal. It is what put Bayern Munich off. What has stopped others making the move. It is greed.

The dog shagger is no different to any other player. Selfish and greedy. But why is he still at the club?

I have always been a big believer that if a player does not want to be at the club, he should be moved on. I wrote back at the beginning of July that we should get rid.

The biggest issue at Stoke City was the lack of creativity. With not much happening from the middle of the park, Mesut Ozil was having to go deeper and deeper to get the ball, to start the attack. It meant during the second half, he was often picking the ball up from centre backs. Starting our attacks on the half way line, with all his team mates, and 10 defenders, ahead of him.

By the time the ball got to the edge of the box, it was Olivier Giroud, Danny Welbeck, Alexandre Lacazette and Hector Bellerin involved in the play. Ozil was well behind the play as he had started it. Play broke down as we had the wrong type of players in the wrong position on the pitch.

Without Sanchez, we lacked that quality in the final 3rd. Often when Ozil drops deep, Sanchez is able to find those pockets of space, and tee up opponents, or find the net himself. With Welbeck playing behind the striker, we simply did not have that option.

I would be surprised if we see Alexis Sanchez play for Arsenal again. And if we do, it will be like Thierry Henry’s final season. Where he plays with an arrogant shrug. A sulk. And it will be detrimental to his team mates.

We should have got rid of Sanchez 2 months ago. Then gone out and signed Thomas Lemar. Or Julian Draxler. Or any number of top quality number 10s that would have been an improvement on Alex Iwobi or Danny Welbeck.

Whilst Arsenal’s stand on Alexis Sanchez might be seen as courageous, afterall he is contracted to the club and being made to see out his contract, the fact is, him not playing is damaging the club. And if he plays and is not 100% motivated, it will be just as bad.

Sanchez should have been moved on and replaced 6 weeks ago. Instead, we are two games into the season and the fans frustration is already clear to see.

No player is bigger than the club. It is Arsenal FC. Not Alexis FC.

Keenos

Julian Draxler, Spurs and Gabriel

52 Replies

Julian Draxler

PSG are reportedly accepting bids for German international Julian Draxler.

With the Thomas Lemar deal now seemingly dead, or dying, Arsenal need to look elsewhere for reinforcements in the final third of the field.

Up front, we are set. In Alexandre Lacazette, Danny Welbeck ,Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez, we have options, even after Lucas Perez departs. But behind that, we are struggling.

Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez are both world class performers, there is no debate. But who is competing with them for attacking midfield spots?

The only other player we have who is a natural number 10 is Alex Iwobi.

We can also play Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla behind the striker, but none of these are ideal. We then have Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott who have done the job – badly – in pre-season.

Add in the contract situation of Sanchez and Ozil and you can see why Thomas Lemar was so aggressively target this summer.

I love Julian Draxler. I first spoke about his potential way back in October 2013 add my opinion on him has not changed.

If he is available for as little as £32m (in current prices), Arsenal need to ensure they are at the front of the queue.

Spurs

The gift that keeps giving. Some people say I blog about them too much, question why I am bothered, even say I am deflecting away from Arsenal’s problems, but when your nearest rivals are such a joke, it is impossible not to take notice.

Firstly we have the debacle over their temporary move to Wembley. They spent ages negotiating with Brent Council to allow them to use the stadium at its full capacity – 90,000 – only for the council to restrict ticket sales for major games to those that know the club.

For this weekends game against Chelsea, you could only buy a ticket if you had an interaction with the club since July 1st. Now what interaction means is unclear? Is it own a membership? Or is it bought a DVD from the club shop.

What is known is that they have only sold 70,000 tickets. This once more raises the question as to why they are building a 60,000+ stadium?

This is a side, remember, who had an attendance low of 24,712 against Gillingham in the League Cup last year. 26,463 was their low in 2015/16. They have a history of fans not showing up to games.

Of course, Spurs fans will come on this blog (they are drawn to it likes flies to a light) saying it is only the League Cup. Well Arsenal got hammered in the press back in 2011 for having only 46,539 turn up to a League Cup game against Shrewsbury. Whilst this is 15,000 below capacity, it is still more than 20,000 than Spurs got against Gillingham.

Stupid Spurs fans will say but Arsenal have a bigger stadium, so will get bigger attendances. This rationale would be correct if both sides sold out. But Spurs had 10,000 unsold tickets v Gillingham. So if they had a 60,000 seater stadium, the amount of tickets would not rise, just the amount of unsold.

I look forward to Burnley turning up to North West London. Tickets are on general sale. 20,000 Burnley fans in the home end. Hopefully Spurs get put in their place.

The second part of this mini blog is over the press love in with them. We all know the press love Spurs and gloss over their lack of success. It is because they are not a big club.

In one of today’s paper, the headline is;

SHREWD LEVY DUE A BREAK

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy Sure gets a lot of stick for having one of the most successful business models in football.

Well if the barometer of a successful football side is trophies, then the Spurs model clearly is not a success. 1 League Cup in 18 years. No FA Cup in 26 years. No league title in 56 years. I know Levy was not at Spurs for this entire period, but ENIC bought Spurs in 2001. 1 League Cup in that time is not a success.

It later go’s on to call Spurs One of the best sides in the Premier League. Under Daniel Levy’s stewardship, their every Premier League finish is 7th. They have finished below 8th 6 times in the 16 years of Enic. This against top 4 four times. A good two seasons does not make them one of the best in the league.

It seems Levy is being praised for turning a profit, selling his best players. And not for winning things. Well done Spurs for winning the best run club that never wins stuff trophy. It can go in the cabinet alongside your Put the Pressure On and finish Above Arsenal Once Cups.

Gabriel

Thanks for the memories. It never quite worked out. You never really adapted to English football. You still can not speak a word of English. Good luck in the future. Enjoy your 2 FA Cup winners medals. It is more than what other players win in their career. It is more than Harry Kane and Dele Alli.

You did not work out, but you were certainly not a flop. Hopefully we see you stick one on Diego Costa in La Liga in the new year.

Keenos